A Christmas markets weekend in Vienna

Drift between wooden stalls of handmade ornaments with a mug of Punsch, then walk the Ringstrasse past the floodlit Burgtheater and University. Stephansdom and its tiled roof are about 15 minutes away on foot: circle the cathedral once, then let the lit windows of the Graben and Kohlmarkt pull you along, hand in hand, going nowhere in particular.

When the cold or the crowds win, retreat to Café Central on Herrengasse, a vaulted former banking hall of marble columns and arched ceilings where writers and thinkers have gathered since the late 19th century. An hour over a Melange and a slice of cake is as Viennese as any market.

The Habsburgs' golden-yellow summer palace makes a grand backdrop for a smaller, more elegant market in its front courtyard, all handmade decorations and local specialties. Walk the stalls, then decide together whether the staterooms tour fits today. Either way, take the winter gardens slowly: bare trees, quiet paths and the Gloriette on the hill above. Schönbrunn is roughly 20 minutes by tram or metro from the center, so give it the morning rather than squeezing it in.

On a properly foul day, give the afternoon to the Kunsthistorisches Museum near the Museumsquartier, where Egyptian antiquities give way to Bruegel and Vermeer under a lavish domed atrium. Pick two or three galleries and leave with energy for the evening.

Spittelberg's cobbled lanes and restored Biedermeier townhouses tuck the stalls between old façades, and the market feels quieter, more crafts-minded and far more intimate than the Rathausplatz. Walk it slowly and stop wherever something catches your eye. The Museumsquartier is next door, Baroque former royal stables mixed with contemporary architecture, if you want one more museum before you leave.

If the weather turns miserable, the Albertina, a former Habsburg palace beside the Opera House, holds prints, drawings and modern art from Monet, Picasso and Klimt: an easy indoor hour that ends the trip warm.